Steve Cook: Bournemouth’s Unlikely Hero

Steve Cook has proved an unlikely hero to Bournemouth’s charge for Premier League safety in recent weeks, with tougher games on the horizon, can he continue?

Position: Defender

Fantasy Price: £6.8m (PlayON), £4.3m (FPL)

Starts: 28

Goals: 3

Clean Sheets: 7

A month ago, Bournemouth looked to be prime contenders for the end of season relegation dogfight. Today they’re looking to be in an increasingly comfortable position in 13th and are hitting their very impressive run of form at just the right time of year.

Three wins on the bounce against opponents Southampton, Newcastle and Swansea have put the club on firm footing for survival and a respectable finish, and key to that recent success has been the Cherries’ centre-half, Steve Cook.

We want to finish as high up the league as possible. That’s now our target, to get into the top half. We are two points off the top half so that will be our aim, and I am sure we can do it – Steve Cook, to Sky Sports.

The 24 year old has put in three consecutive man of the match displays and scored two crucial goals in that timeframe to market himself as an increasingly reliable – if not leftfield – fantasy football selection.

Over the past four Gameweeks, Cook has featured in the top bracket among defenders in terms of clearances (57) where he ranks as first, blocks (6) coming in at second, and boasted an impressive tally of interceptions (12).

In PlayON terms, combined with his low, low price, his propensity to chip in on the more agricultural aspects of the game means that he accumulates points from a number of different sources.

The whole Bournemouth backline, Cook, Daniels, Francis and Smith, have been quietly effective and steadily improving as a unit over the past few weeks and their understanding is beginning to reap rewards for the Cherries.

The performances of Cook and his partnership with Charlie Daniels has been a particular highlight. It’s an imperfect double act, playing at the heart of a defence that has shipped 47 goals this season, but the two have been instrumental in clawing Eddie Howes’ team out of danger of late.

The fixture list over the next couple of weeks is hardly kind, with Spurs and Manchester City up next across the next two games but Steve Cook is player certainly worth consideration in a Daily Fantasy Football line-up where his sheer accumulation of defensive statistics can help bolster a manager’s total points tally, regardless of whether he concedes it or not.

A diamond in the rough for sure, but Cook and Bournemouth are beginning to look a more and more polished article.